Toronto, 1951 – Irishman Tom Corbert sits in his rented room and turns an unopened letter over in his hands. The envelope has stamps from all over the world on it, stamps that trace the journey he’s been on for the last decade. The letter has followed him all the way from his past, from Ireland. And it’s calling him home. But Tom is not the only one being summoned. Also in Toronto is Bob Ward, a soft hearted but hard fisted man with whom Tom is familiar mostly through barroom brawls. And s...

The view 16-year-old Thomas Osborne first had of Muskoka was at night, trudging alone with his even younger brother along unmarked primitive roads to find their luckless father who, in 1875, had decided to make a new start for his beleaguered family on some "free land" in the bush east of the pioneer village of Huntsville, Ontario. The miracle is that Thomas lived to tell the tale.For the next five years Thomas endured starvation, falling through the ice and freezing, accidents wit...

Causeway is Linden MacIntyre’s evocative memoir of his Cape Breton childhood. At once a vibrant coming-of-age story, a portrait of a vanishing way of life and a reflection on fathers and sons, the narrative revolves around the construction of the Canso Causeway that would link the small Cape Breton village of MacIntyre’s childhood to the wide world of the mainland. Shot through with humour, humanity and vivid characters, Causeway is an extraordinary book, a memoir that ha...

**A National Post Bestseller!How did Tom Thomson die in the summer of 1917?**Was landscape painter Tom Thomson shot by poachers, or by a German-American draft dodger? Did a blow from a canoe paddle knock him unconscious and into the water? Was he fatally injured in a drunken fight? Did he end his life out of fear of being forced to marry his pregnant girlfriend?Commemorating the one-hundredth anniversary of the death of the renowned Canadian landscape paint...

The story of Newfoundland and Labrador is a long and bloody one. In Murder on the Rock, Robert C. Parsons describes some of the most horrific and puzzling crimes and shenanigans that have happened in this province. With tales of kidnappers, cold-blooded murderers, cannibals, and more, these fifty-nine stories of crime and punishment cover the 1700s to present day. Included are: Death at Saint Pierre Politics and Murder Mutineers, Villains, and Cowards The Death Ritual A Crime Most Frighten...

When T.J. Wray lost her 43-year-old brother, her grief was deep and enduring and, she soon discovered, not fully acknowledged. Despite the longevity of adult sibling relationships, surviving siblings are often made to feel as if their grief is somehow unwarranted. After all, when an adult sibling dies, he or she often leaves behind parents, a spouse, and even children—all of whom suffer a more socially recognized type of loss.Based on the author's own experiences, as well as those ...

The 1920s were one of the wildest decades in Canada's history a time of frivolous fads shocking crimes and political and social changes that definitively yanked the country out of the 19th century and into the modern age. In Strange Days Ted Ferguson revisits dozens of stories that could only have happened in the '20s tales of serial killers athletes con men crackpots prime ministers bathing beauties and more all of them nearly too amazing to believe and too entertaining to be for...

The story of steamboating in the Canadian West comes to life in the voices of those aboard the vessels of the waterways of the Prairies.Their captains were seafaring skippers who had migrated inland. Their pilots were indigenous people who could read the shoals, sandbars, and currents of Prairie waterways. Their operators were businessmen hoping to reap the benefits of commercial enterprise along the shores and banks of Canada’s inland lakes and rivers. Their passe...

As an idealist and a visionary, Jack Layton connected with millions of Canadians who saw that he was a different kind of political leader. So did Tommy Douglas, chosen as the greatest Canadian ever by CBC's television audience.The New Democratic Party and its predecessor, the CCF, have often chosen leaders who resonated with the Canadian public. In fact, the vision and the ideals of the leaders of the NDP and the CCF have been key to its strength and appeal. Their commitment to the...

A unique photo album of 116 historical photographs (with original captions) about Grenfell Mission and People, Ice break-up, Mail boat, Mail plane, Medley of Photographs and Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) Air Transfers in Nain – Nunatsiavut, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 1965-66. It paints a beautiful portrait of how the challenges to do with transportation (ice break-up, mail boat, mail plane,) as well as the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) teachers' air transfer to their coastal s...

A chronicle of Pierre Elliot Trudeau's first term as prime minister and the attempt to bridge one of Canada's classic political fault lines.Trudeau appeared to enjoy the encounter. He stood his ground while escaping projectiles, including a tomato . . .In this insightful and lively history, Liberal insider Darryl Raymaker recalls the attempt to broker "a marriage from hell" between the federal Liberal Party and Alberta's Social Credit government in the late 1...

Snacks is a history of Canadian snack foods, of the independent producers and workers who make them, and of the consumers who can’t put them down.Janis Thiessen profiles several iconic Canadian snack food companies, including Old Dutch Potato Chips, Hawkins Cheezies, and chocolate maker Ganong. These companies have developed in distinctive ways, reflecting the unique stories of their founders and their intense connection to specific locations.These stories of salty...